Downtown Jonesboro businesses hoping to help curb DUI's this New Year's Eve

JONESBORO, AR (KAIT ) – Several Jonesboro business owners are implementing plans to make sure their customers make it home safely this New Year's Eve.

Sarah Reeves is general manager of one of a few restaurants and bars in downtown Jonesboro who has a breathalyzer inside the establishment.

"You take the straw, put your money in," she said. "Then, as you blow into it, it registers and tells you your BAC, which is the blood alcohol content, and then it tells you if you're able to drive. It'll give you a green light and a thumbs up if you're good to go."

The breathalyzer inside the restaurant just costs $1, a small price for a person to pay for their safety and the safety of others.

"We want to make sure that our people don't just want to sit at home because they can't come out, have a drink, and go home, and not be safe while doing it," Reeves said.

Research released in 2012 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that 70 percent of the 10,228 drunk driving deaths from 2010 involved drivers with blood alcohol levels two times higher than the .08 legal limit.

Reeves is also offering curbside limousine service to shuttle Jonesboro residents to their homes.

David Head has a designated driver in his group. Head said he and the other three people he was with are taking it easy this New Year's Eve, but he knows from experience that the breathalyzers and limos are good options to have.

"We're a little long in the tooth and gray in the whiskers, so we'll probably have a few drinks and a few bites to eat and go home," he said. "In my younger days, it was wild and wooly. Let's just say I've been stopped before, and I should've been in jail and wasn't."

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